How Game-Based Learning Can Effectively Engage Minority Students

One of the important questions for teachers and education policymakers is how to engage new age learners, especially minority students, in a meaningful way. Game-based learning provides a platform where minority students can be intrinsically motivated to stay focused. The incorporation of multimedia design and instructional design principles in educational games would potentially help learners comprehend the information and engage in deeper learning. The decision-making process in a game-based learning environment is tied to the neural system of information processing. As research studies point out, the reward that the learner gets is, in fact, the stimulus that with desirable properties that drives behavior. Other than that, the effective feedback in the game-based learning environment has a powerful influence on learning.

Educational audiovisual text design: empirical evidence and new research perspectives

The article presents a systematic analysis of international literature concerning the design of educational audiovisual texts at university level. The theme appears very important in light of the extensive use of these cognitive artefacts in flipped, blended,Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) teaching processes. This is even more important in the era of health emergency that has led to the use of audiovisual text as the main teaching medium at school and university. The aim of the work is to provide a contribution to research on educational technologies for the purpose of identifying new instructional design principles that support multimedia learning. The analysis highlighted new research directions, such as the significant role of the camera point of view in learning complex manual procedures, new design elements on the ways of representing the teacher and his/her communicative attitude, and the increasingly close relationship between educational sciences and neuroscience. The result may be useful, on the one hand, as a stimulus for an in-depth study of the new lines of research identified, by researchers on educational technologies, and on the other, for a more informed evidence-based use of audiovisual texts in teaching practices.

Method or Media: 10 Do’s and Some Don’ts for Using Media in Online Post-Secondary Education

For effective online teaching and learning there is no short-cut for good instructional design, as well as following well-established pedagogical practices. For universities in the post-pandemic era, the main challenges for delivering quality online programs are, first, to provide good access through high quality digital infrastructure, and, secondly, to assure that all lecturers are trained in modern pedagogical approaches, basic instructional design principles for online teaching, and media usage. In my own experience, following the eight QM “Quality Matters” standards, will go a long way in improving online instruction and student engagement. These standards provide a simple, proven and robust framework, even for the inexperienced to design and deliver an effective and engaging course. Universities that have consistently applied QM standards, for example, dominate the rankings for best online programs in the USA (QM 2020). Uniquely, QM offers a low-cost training program on online teaching that can be rolled out at scale for lecturers at member universities and schools, that includes all elements for developing and delivering effective online courses, including the use of media.The use of media in any course is always optional. Recent research, however, shows that the use of media, in particular asynchronous video in combination with other learning materials, can lead to substantial improvements in learning. This research found that the combination of solid instructional design and the appropriate use of asynchronous media in online or hybrid courses can be more effective than traditional face-to-face teaching, due to more focused content, and students being able to rewind thus avoiding feeling overwhelmed (Noetel et al., 2021). Finally, I offer 10 helpful pointers for developing and delivering online courses using media, for those of us who are not experienced online instructors, or instructional designers.

EDITORIAL: New Academic Year and New Beginnings

This volume introduces three especially enlightening and astute works that aid in our navigation and understanding of learning technologies. First is Rebecca Smith’s article, which determines that technology is compelling in its ability to increase teacher confidence. The second is by Donna Hess, which exemplifies that instructional design principles backed by a theoretical approach are critical in conceiving compelling foreign language practices. The third, by Megan Motto, establishes that routine practice and contemplation with a coaching peer facilitates more efficient technology use within the classroom. These three papers come to the conclusion that technology within the classroom does not assure achievement unless that technology is used alongside a theoretical and pedagogical foundation. Furthermore, our journal will be undergoing important changes, as I am stepping down as editor and Dr. Gerald Ardito will assume my position in January of 2022.

Exploring Instructional Design in Arabic Education

This review examines instructional design principles from Behaviorist, Cognitivist, Constructivist, and Contemporary learning inspired models within the landscape of Arabic language education research. Specific characteristics from instructional design models suchs as ADDIE, Morrison, Ross, and Kemp, ASSURE, and Rapid Prototyping are explored within the context of the Arabic classroom that uses technology integration. It will be shown that there is a need for more studies to emphasize the importance of design within course development to benefit both instructors and learners of Arabic. This synthesis of current research will be helpful to Arabic educators and researchers in determining best collaborative and comprehensive strategies for designing effective Arabic language learning environments to propel the field into the future. 

Ten steps to 4C/ID: training differentiation skills in a professional development program for teachers

This paper describes how an interdisciplinary design team used the Four-Component Instructional Design (4C/ID) model and its accompanying Ten Steps design approach to systematically design a professional development program for teaching differentiation skills to primary school teachers. This description illustrates how insights from a cognitive task analysis into classroom differentiation skills were combined with literature-based instructional design principles to arrive at the training blueprint for workplace-based learning. It demonstrates the decision-making processes involved in the systematic design of each of the four components: learning tasks, supportive information, procedural information, and part-task practice. While the design process was time and resource-intensive, it resulted in a detailed blueprint of a five-month professional development program that strategically combines learning activities to stimulate learning processes that are essential for developing the complex skill providing differentiated instruction in a mathematics lesson.